Astrophysics & Particle Physics-APPC 2026

White dwarf cooling is the slow thermal energy loss from white dwarfs, the dense remnants of low-mass and intermediate-mass stars that have depleted their nuclear fuel. These stars are held up by electron degeneracy pressure, so they no longer produce energy in the form of fusion, and their brightness fades steadily as they emit trapped heat into space.White dwarf cooling is a gradual process and takes billions of years for temperatures to cool from tens of thousands of Kelvin down to a few thousand Kelvin. More sophisticated telescopes and surveys, such as Gaia and Hubble, enable astronomers to observe cooling rates, luminosities, and spectra of white dwarfs, enhancing stellar evolution models and population studies.Summarily, white dwarf cooling is an inherent process in the stellar life cycle, being the last stage in stellar evolution for low- and intermediate-mass stars. White dwarf cooling is studied to help measure stellar ages, cluster evolution, and galaxy thermal history, so it is an essential area of study in astrophysics.